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Digit

Established Member
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9 months after the death of our much missed Boxer, followed by the wife's 'never again!', we have started looking for a new foot warmer, but today, in an unnamed newspaper there is a report by a lady of her efforts to adopt a rescue hound.
As she states, it was more like trying to adopt a child!
Anyone else had this problem?

Roy.
 
If your going through the official routes of trusts or foundations.

She wants a second Ankita and contacted a trust. They have done a home visit to inspect its good enough, requested that she met us all including kids then that we and all kids visit the other dog first with our dog a few times. They request both dogs are "done" before and will consider allowing if only one dog is "done".
 
If your going through the official routes of trusts or foundations.

By the sound of it the answer will be no! :cry:
We have used the same veterinary group for 20 yrs, and where home visits have been made the vet has always asked to see the other dogs, and complimented us on their welfare, and that's good enough for me!
Our present early warning system is currectly fast asleep on his own settee!

Roy.
 
Digit":1bavxvid said:
9 months after the death of our much missed Boxer, followed by the wife's 'never again!', we have started looking for a new foot warmer, but today, in an unnamed newspaper there is a report by a lady of her efforts to adopt a rescue hound.
As she states, it was more like trying to adopt a child!
Anyone else had this problem?

Roy.

Speaking as someone who's seen animal abuse, if rescue centres are being careful about who takes animals away, that's a good thing.

BugBear
 
Agreed! But it's beginning to look as though some of them want to see our pedigree papers!

Roy.
 
And what happens if no one lives up to 'their standards' ?
I doubt I would despite the fact we've had three Dogs in the 25 years we've been here.
 
It can also be a good thing regarding the condition of the animal. The dog we have been offered from the trust needs a very expensive op £1000+ and the trust will not let us have her till the op's done, we can't afford that right now and they are paying. They hold some weight with vets so get a very healthy discount also.
 
I'm a cat person myself, but in the past have had to undergo the 'Spanish Inquistion' before any moggie was released. Since these animal charities are there to pick up the pieces from the thoughtless actions of people who acquire pets irresponsibly, it's hardly surprising, indeed laudible, that they are so careful. France is far less well provided for in this respect, unfortunately and appears to have no equivalent of Cats Protection.

Without a charity worker in sight, my most recent feline arrival was found by chance in a pile of mouldy straw: an abandoned 10 day old kitten on the verge of death, who took considerable persuasion merely to 'choose life' as my wife so wonderfully put it.
 
Digit":15or0y10 said:
Agreed! But it's beginning to look as though some of them want to see our pedigree papers!
Roy.

Roy, if you are considering having a rescue dog then you have my utmost admiration, and please PLEASE try not to be to 'sensitive' about what the rescue centre is asking of you. It may seem like a 'grilling' and the staff may not have been through the 'customer awareness' programme that all multi-nationals put their staff through, but what the heck, it's the poor little mutt who has been abandoned or badly treated by the one species on this planet with hatred, greed, cruelty, and God knows what else built in to their genes i.e. humans (UKW members excepted of course :lol: )

Rescue dogs do not immediately become good pets, they often come with 'hang ups' and who could blame them, taking a 'rescue' dog requires a human with above average intelligence, sensitivity, and devotion, if you fit the bill (and I'm sure you do) then the odd bit of beauracracy and bad personal communication (on the part of the rescue organisation) is surely nothing to worry about.

As Lord Byron wrote many years ago - Dogs have all the virtues of men with none of their vices :)
 
Locally we are up to our knees in puppy farms Losos, and we will not support them, our current hound is a rescue dog, and came with some substantial hang ups.
For the first few weeks he would not allow me near him, growling and baring his teeth! Now he won't let me out of his site! He blew the caravan up as well!
Our Boxer was bred for breeding, but had too much white in her, we were given 24 hrs to re-home her or she was to be put down, the first evening she destroyed the TV remote and my mobile phone! :lol:
Locally the most offerred 'free to a good home' etc are Bull Terriers, and my wife won't touch them with our grandchildren about the place, all who have been raised with dogs.

Roy.
 
In November...my best friend ...Jake...passed on to the Rainbow Bridge...

jake-2.jpg


We got him from the local rescue centre nearly 19 years ago. When he passed on we both thought that we would not be able to replace him...such a character he was...I even trained him to howl loudly to the theme tune of Eastenders...much to my wife's annoyance...and he continued until she turned it over! (great dog!)

Two weeks I "lasted"....only two weeks and then one day...out of sheer despair, I went back to the same rescue centre. In the past two decades...things had changed radically...probably for the better, in that the screening of the potential owners was far more tight.

We looked around and sitting in the corner of a cage...not barking "take me take me"...was this little mite...cold...scared and only a few months old...

DSC_0231.JPG


They wanted to check us out...and promised we could have him within a week...but he was so scared and so cold outside with all the bigger dogs...I couldn't leave him there. When I told them that our previous dog from there had recently died at 19 years of age...they immediately relented and let us take him there and then... common-sense prevailed!

After 12 hours he brightened up a bit....

DSC_0227.JPG


...and after a few weeks...he is as happy as pig in poo and helping turn Mum's new boots into some nice sandals for her for the summer....

DSC_0138.JPG


....even Bailey our cat loves him...

DSC_0086.JPG


Nothing will ever replace old Jake...but both ALFIE and me are a LOT happier now!

Jim
 
No Jim, nothing will replace him, but dogs all seem to have their own character, all different, and I remember every one!

Roy.
 
Our faithful old Staffie Macduff died about 3 years or so back, (that's him in my avatar) and we thought we wouldn't have another dog as he was such a character and hard to replace.
We had a rethink though, and went to our local dogs home in Bristol and it's a very sad indictment of society today that of the 40 or so dogs there, at least 80% were staffie or staffie cross dogs, abandoned by their owners.
They are seen as a status symbol by the chavs, but are such lovable friendly dogs around humans and get such a bad press.
We looked around and saw one poor little dog who was in pretty poor condidtion.
We enquired, and found out he had been found wandering in Bristol about 6 weeks before, starving, half his recommended weight, and covered in bite marks on his muzzle, ears, paws and body.
He also had a massive tear under his front leg on his torso that needed stitching.
The dogs home scanned him and found he had been chipped, but on contacting the owners numerous times, they never responded, so he was left there.
We got the same third degree to make sure we were suitable to home him, including home visits etc, and rightly so I believe, especially once we had him home with us.
What was so sad was that he was terrified of contact initially, and simply undoing your shoelace had him cowering, obviously expecting a beating, and he was so scared to even go to his food, we had to almost force him there and coax him to eat by leaving a trail of treats.
I'm of the assumption that he was used for fighting by the owners, and personally, I would have followed it up beyond simply taking the dog into the home.
The dogs homes are right to veto people to make sure they are going to homes that they won't be subjected to further abuse, and we had follow up visits a couple of times at random to make sure he was in good hands.
We've had him for around 18 months now, and they reckoned he was around 1 year old when we got him.
Even despite his hard life initially, he has followed in the footsteps of our other dog, and is fantastic with kids and people, but even now, when he sees another dog he is incredibly wary, always looking over his shoulder to watch his back, and if one gets too near his hackles are up, and he's ready to pounce and fight.
That is the one thing that is the hardest part. Trying to convince him that he is safe and has no need to fight, cower or be afraid takes time.
It's a long road, and the problem with other dogs is the most difficult.
All in all it's well worth it though, he's a fantastic little hound!
He was named Dollar at the home, so we stuck with it.
Here he is a month or so after we got him, almost back to his correct weight, but you can still see a few little scars from bites.
Andy

dollar.jpg
 
The kids and I volunteer for a GSD rescue charity on a Saturday taking the rescue dogs for a walk. We also foster dogs during the holidays - today seeing Tia go to her new home after a stay of 3 weeks.
Tia2.jpg

Because my wife works and I'm on site about 50% of the time we've decided it isn't really fair to have a GSD permanently so fostering works for us and helps the charity out too.

There must be many sites for rescue dogs, but this site has a forum where there is info about many dogs needing homes, not just GSD's.

Cheers,

Steve
 
We got our present Jack Russell from a rescue centre about 2 years ago and they did a home visit and asked about where we would be walking her etc. We certainly did not feel that we were being given the third degree just making sure. The only disappointment was the requirement to have her 'done' as she is so sweet we would have loved to have had some pups by her. as with others mentioned, she was found wandering age approx 6months old and unchipped. She has been no trouble at all. Your first dog is always the best, but this one is really sweet and everyone loves her!

Phil
 
Digit":1i75q5hx said:
Locally we are up to our knees in puppy farms Losos, and we will not support them, our current hound is a rescue dog, and came with some substantial hang ups.
For the first few weeks he would not allow me near him, growling and baring his teeth! Now he won't let me out of his site! He blew the caravan up as well!
Our Boxer was bred for breeding, but had too much white in her, we were given 24 hrs to re-home her or she was to be put down, the first evening she destroyed the TV remote and my mobile phone! :lol:
Locally the most offerred 'free to a good home' etc are Bull Terriers, and my wife won't touch them with our grandchildren about the place, all who have been raised with dogs.
Roy.

Yes people on the one doggie forums I'm a member of have also frequently mention that 'puppy farms' seem to predominate in Wales, as the son of Welsh parents that does make me sad, and I would like to see legislation to make these greedy and uncaring breeders go away and do something else.

I hope that you find your current 'rescue' gradually becomes one of the familly as have one of our two.
 
Our current rescue has been in our family for some years now, but having lost our Boxer some months ago, and gone through the 'never again,' bit we have started looking for, I was gonna say replacement, but there's no such thing is there? So for a new family member then.
If we have to jump through hoops I guess we will.
But with a 6 yr old grandson about the place a lot of the time we have to be careful.
There have been a number of prosecutions of puppy farm owners in recent years, but it does not seem to have deterred very many, unfortunately.
I'm hoping that the fact that our vet has known us, and our dogs, for so many years will ease the problems.
It's difficult to adjust to home without several dogs about the place.
I had a very special relationship with our Boxer, it was her who alerted me to the possibilty that I had Prostate Cancer, my GP smiled when a mentioned that, fortunately/unfortunately my dog knew better, and I miss her.

Roy.
 
I am very moved by all your stories, especially you Jimi, I remember when our last dog, Winnie, our beautiful brindle staffie puppy went, damn near broke my heart, was like loosing a child. We waited 4 years before getting another, this time a boy staffie, ( all my dogs, for the last 25 years have been staffies, just the most wonderful dogs) and here he is, his name is Sykes:
plane106.jpg


and in mid air, chasing the water out the end of the hose pipe !!

plane083.jpg


As well as being drop dead gorgeous, he is just such a brilliant family pet. stupid as they come, but heart of gold. I love him to bits, he is lying next to me on the bed , snoring and farting as I type... !! he just had one of those fantastic dog days, we went to my parents and he loves it there, a nice walk in the woods, roast lamb leftovers and plenty of fuss. he is one happy dog right now!

Its such a shame so many morons own these dogs and give them such a bad name, I think it should be compulsory for any owner to have a licence and be checked out first.

Cheers, Mark
 
When we got our first from the Dogs Trust we went through the whole rigmarole (quite rightly) then after 9 months we went to Wood Green to see about some company for him the process started again but was quickly curtailed when they realised that the happy and confident dog with us was also a rescue (not the way he was when we got him). I am sure they have some kind of database or jungle telegraph to let them know who the good guys are.
 
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